


First Impressions

by storybored



Series: The Mellon Effect [1]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: Adrian is lovely, Cuddling, Don is a unit, Fluff, Gen, He's trying so hard, Let him build tiny houses in peace, M/M, and a bully, college is hard and not what Ben wanted, poor Bill
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-10
Updated: 2019-11-17
Packaged: 2021-01-26 16:16:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21376942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/storybored/pseuds/storybored
Summary: They might have become fast friends but it wasn't always that way. How exactly did each of the losers meet Adrian Mellon?
Relationships: Don Hagarty & Ben Hanscom, Don Hagarty & Bill Denbrough, Don Hagarty/Adrian Mellon
Series: The Mellon Effect [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1539280
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	1. Bill Denbrough and the No Good Terribly Awkward Why Me Morning

Bill thought that college was a definite adjustment, not necessarily a bad adjustment, but an adjustment. It's been so long since he really felt normal, and maybe it was because his roommate was so quiet and mellow. Barely fazed by Bill’s stutter when most outside the Losers would become frustrated with him, it was what prevented him from talking in class and disappointed him that he didn’t have any classes with Don to ask him to ask for clarifying questions when he got confused and frustrated.    
Don was fairly nice and kind of hard to get to know, a sort of disconnect like DOn was hiding something he didn;t quite trust him to know, that reminded Bill of Eddie before he came out. There was this secret that no one could know because otherwise it’d ruin everything, but it could simply be that Don was private and decided to give Bill as much space as their tiny dorm room would allow. And it wasn’t that Bill minded it just happened to strike him as weird, but it wasn’t even midterms they’d warm up to each other. 

Bill was sort of thankful that Don was home in the dorm about half the time and typically not coming home at all or was asleep when Bill would come home, he also never seemed to protest Bill coming home past midnight instead just purchasing an eye mask and headphones. He should try to get to know his roommate better but he was a little confused about how to. Maybe dinner or inviting him to hang out with the losers club, he was about eighty percent sure Don was from Derry as well, what were the fucking odds of ending up with a Derry boy as his room mate. 

Well Bill could worry about that after class he had a review to do still and a free write to complete before class in a few hours, he needed a few pages to read and review his randomly assigned partner’s paper. Some guy named Adrian Mellon, and from what little he could see, that guy could get dark. Even for the first month of class, Adrian’s writing was vivid and comfortable in most genres, Bill personally thought his endings were a little weak and found the fact that Adrian seemed to focus on character rather than plot a little frustrating, Adrian’s writing wasn’t fantasy based it was essentially real life with a heavy hin of magical realism. 

He’s only traded emails with Adrian really as class hasn’t been able to meet, their teacher was a little eccentric preferring to have the modules posted on line and occasionally holding actual class hours once a week for creative writing review or general questions, it was definitely the oddest class Bill had to take for his degree but it was definitely his favorite. Attending the class hours wasn’t mandatory but it was nice to go, nice to take his laptop and write or just bullshit a few pages trying to figure out a way to get past scene block. Bill wished he was unable to attend class sessions earlier, get to know his classmates a little better but it was still hard to find the motivation to go to class when it wasn’t mandatory. 

He attempted to sit next to a guy wearing a black and white striped shirt and a bright patterned hat, writing in a beaten up leather notebook, there was a beaten up rucksack with patches covering it,”Is- is this seat open?”

The guy looked up a little shocked and looked around the other empty seats around him, and was a little confused, outside of the teacher there were only a few other students in the classroom,”Sure?”

Bill stuck out his hand,”I’m Bill, how packed does the class usually get?”

The guy hesitantly shook it,” Adrian, about half the class, first time coming here?”

“Yeah, I’ve just been busy. College has been an adjustment.”

Adrian shrugged,”It’s easy to get used to when you know what to expect, the first semester is always the hardest.”

Bill raised an eyebrow he thought that Adrian was semi close to his age,”How long have you been attending?”   
“This is my second semester, I found so far at least that college is easier than high school.”

“The freedom?” 

“Sure.” Adrian smiled softly at Bill, a little charming,”There’s never a bad view either.”

Bill blinked in shock, feeling heat rush to his cheeks,”I-I’m flattered but I’m not… gay.”

Adrian seemed amused at Bill being flustered,”And who said I was?”

Bill shifted in his seat awkwardly,”I… sorry.”

Adrian let out a bark of laughter,” Oh my god, Bill, I’m fucking with you.”

The teacher seemed to look up from the desk, booting up the power point,”Welcome class, I see some new faces, glad to see you’ve started to take advantage of our group writing times. Today we will be starting up with writing a short horror story based off the prompt on the projector and if you’d like possibly sharing it. We’ll also be discussing the different ways to write a novel using examples using books like There, There by Tommy Orange, Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel and The Turn of The Screw by Henry James, but as always listening isn’t mandatory.”

Adrian seemed to sigh and shut his notebook before pulling out a laptop and rolled his eyes,”We’re in for a  _ fun '  _ lab _ `.'' _

Adrian checked his phone after the teacher said class was over, and Bill wanted a friend outside of the losers club to help him in class. It was hard to only be able to talk to your professors via email instead of in class or in person,”Hey Adrian, do you wanna get coffee?”   
Adrian looked up from his phone,”Ah, no, I got to work, but maybe another time.”   
Bill scratched the back of his head awkwardly vaguely feeling like he was blown off,” Okay, rain check then.”

Adrian smiled at Bill slightly placatingly,” Yeah, sure.”

Bill staggered into the dorm room exhausted and a little drunk, partying with Richie was always a bad idea. Especially when Eddie was around because somehow Eddie and Richie always ended up trying to outdo each other with Mike and Ben trying to make sure no one ended up too hungover the next day, Stan was busy flirting with a girl in his accounting class, Patty or something. Bill couldn’t really hear him at the club.    
Bill felt a little bad at the sound his bag made when it was dropped onto the counter, he saw Don’s back twitch and roll closer to the wall without raising much of a fuss over it. A reaction from Don when Bill came home late was a little odd at this point but not unheard of. He thought it was a little weird that there was an unfamiliar bag on Don’s desk but the dorm room was dark and maybe Don hadn’t put away his stuff from class or it was his soccer bag, he could investigate tomorrow morning.

Bill collapsed onto his bed not making a real effort to climb under the covers, he was far too tired to deal with things outside of crawling onto his bed and sleep. Bill yawned burying his head into his pillows and allowed sleep to rapidly over take him, groaning at the strain being lifted off of his back. 

Bill groaned as the sun shine directly on his face, he’d need to talk to Don about by some real curtains and not the flimsy see-through ones the dorm room came with. He sat up rubbing his eyes and groaning as his head hammered with a hangover, he tried to find the will to climb out of bed and crawl to the minifridge and get a bottle of water. 

Bill sat up and tried to rub his eyes, tried to wake up and look like a halfway decent person and not in the slightest bit hung over, he turned his head to ask Don a question but was halted by seeing Don passed out on the bed with a guy resting on his chest head buried in the pillows, the guy looked vaguely familiar but Bill couldn’t quite place his face outside thinking he must’ve seen him somewhere on campus. Don and the guy were both shirtless and Bill questioned what exactly they got into while he was out with his friends. It’s not that Bill had anything against gay people it’s that they shared a bedroom and Bill would’ve appreciated a heads up that Don was invinting someone over. 

Bill wouldn’t call himself a slob but he wasn’t exactly the cleanest of roommates, and he wasn’t sure if Don was so clean because he was barely in the apartment or if he genuinely was a neat person. Don never really was a messy person unless he was studying, prefering to have his papers spread across his bed and his desk so he could clearly arrange his thoughts. Bill once watched Ben and Don study together and they were both the studious definition of organized chaos, it still is the strangest interaction Bill has had with Ben, and that’s including how they met. 

Bill turned and looked at the clock, seeing the time, he still had three hours until class and was probably not going to get any sleep any time soon. 

Don groaned and gently dislodged the guy laying on him before opening his eyes and climbing out of bed, freezing when he noticed Bill was awake pausing in his hunt for a shirt in the slightly chilly apartment,”Morning.”

Bill cleared his throat, looking at the guy still passed out in Don’s bed,”Have a fun night?”

Don straightened his spine a little defensive, his voice a little chilly,”Possibly.”

Bill winced slightly, for a moment forgetting that Don would be defensive to comments like that. Bill knew how Derry treated outsiders, of course Don would be hostile to him,”I-I’m not- I don’t care about that stuff you know. One of my best friends is gay.”

Don seemed to relax slightly,”Look-”

Bill shrugged,”I get it Derry isn’t accepting of misfits, it’s okay.”

Don nodded and seemed to relax fully before walking towards the fridge shirt abandoned,”It’s better to be defensive at first because you never know…”

“It’s understandable.”

The guy lifted his head off the bed, his voice irritated,”Donald it’s 6 am.”

Don seemed unfazed by the obvious irritation coming from his partner’s voice,”It’s 7, Ade.”

“Ade” raised his head off the bed,”That’s worse.”

“That’s literally an extra hour of sleep.” Don smiled softly,”Come on we’ll all go out to eat.”

Ade groaned and pulled one of the pillows over his face allowing Bill to catch a flash of a tattoo of a snake and skull spanning his forearm,”I can’t-”   
“I’ll pay, please?” Don moved to start making a cup of coffee,”It’s your day off? We can make a day of it?”

Ade sat up and Bill blinked remembering the guy he sat next to in his creative writing lab,”Adrian, hi.”

Adrian squinted at Bill in confusion before sliding on his black slightly thick framed glasses,”Bill?”

Don looked confused,”You two know each other? You gonna properly introduce yourself Addie?”

Adrian smiled and stood up stretching, he faintly reminded Bill of a cat,”Adrian Mellon, pleased to meet you.”   
Bill’s eyes widened,”Bill Denbrough. Oh. Hi. I’m your reviewer in-”

“Yeah, I know.” Adrian smiled at Bill pleasantly before turning his attention to Don,”So what are you buying me?”

“Chicken and pesto?”   
“You drive a hard bargain, Hagarty.”


	2. B Stands for Best (Ben)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not entirely happy with how this turned out but whatever? I like it but I'm not satisfied but that's writing for you.

Ben actually quite like Don, a little soft spoken at first but a fairly reasonable nice guy. Hard working and more than willing to go the extra mile when it came to projects, Ben always struggled when it came to making the blueprints of his buildings better at drawing the initial concept and then trying to find the inner workings and bones of the building where Don liked to work from the inside out. He was a little pissed at Bill kicking them out of his and Don’s dorm room because Ben and Don liked to sprawl when they studied. But Don didn’t seem too bummed about it instead he just suggested they use a friend’s apartment then. Ben didn’t expect the apartment to be above a gay bar but Ben didn’t mind it, he wasn’t into the club scene preffering to spend most of his time at home. He couldn’t handle the packed atmosphere of a club for a long period, his anxiety started to squeeze his lungs before it got too hard to breath and he’d have to leave the club. 

Don held the door open for Ben,”Come in.”

Ben looked around the room, the apartment was cozy, blankets and jackets everywhere. The apartment looked so lived in and comfortable. The apartment was decorated in queer art, it kinda looked like it’d belong in the pride issue of vogue. Tasteful and proud, and Ben liked it,”It’s cozy.”   
Don nodded,”Yeah, it’s owned by the person who owns the bar. My boyfriend is staying here while he is looking for an apartment.” 

Ben nodded,”Oh, cool. Is he home or something?”

DOn looked at the table not seeing Adrian’s ratty backpack in the table,”No but he may be downstairs cleaning. He works at the bar. He’ll make an appearance.”

Don sat down on the couch taking out his laptop,”SO what’s going on with you and Beverly?”

Ben turned to look at Don with wide eyes and pink cheeks,”Why do you think somethings going on between me and Bev?”   
Don shrugged,”The only other people I see hanging around each other the same amount of time is Richie and Eddie, and they’re-”   
“Hopelessly in love but still somehow blind to the other’s emotions?”   
Don smiled slightly,”Oh so you’ve noticed?”

“Yeah.” Ben rubbed the back of his head and booted up his laptop,”So what are you writing about?”

“How various subcultures can influence architecture in neighborhoods and they can influence the general aesthetic. You?”   
“How certain types of architecture can push people away or appeal to people. Boring stuff.” Ben shrugged,”I don’t know, I just want to make places for people to hang out and live and be, not  _ this _ .”

Don nodded,”Yeah but I think you need to learn about this stuff so people actually come right?”   
“Fair.”

Ben groaned,”I hate this.”

* * *

Adrian opened his apartment door, excited to text Don a picture of his newest tattoo, he was a little shocked to see Don and someone else on the couch,”Donnie, Who’s your friend?”

Don’s smiled at Adrian happily,”Hey baby. This is Ben, he’s in my design class.”

Adrian smiled at Ben,”Adrian Mellon, I’m the hot one.”   
“Rude.” Don said faux offended as Adrian sank into the couch next to him,”How was your day?”   
“Got a new tattoo.” Adrian said leaning his head against Don’s shoulder seeing what he's working on,”Ew, homework.”

Don rolled his eyes,”I know, I’m a nerd.” 

Adrian snorted,”A very cute nerd. Ben you hungry?”   
Ben looked at the couple shocked,”What? Oh, no, I’m okay.”

“Okay, I’ll make dinner before I go to work.” 

Adrian stretched out on the couch resting his feet on the table before closing his eyes and wrapping his arms around Don’s elbow, Don kissed his forehead,” I’ll get you up before then.”   
“He’s shorter than I expected.”   
Don nodded,”He’s fun sized.”


End file.
